I was having troubles hitting my pre boil gravity not too long ago. I check with my refractometer, and a hydrometer sample. Even after a 90 minute boil I was still under target. I eventually isolated my problem to sparge efficiency. One technique I've been using with great results is after I...

while brewing my last big double IPA, the recipe had 1lb of dextrose added at the end of the boil.. I swear I had threw in 2lbs of dextrose at the local brew shop, but turns out I hadn't! so I went into my kitchen, and grabbed a pound of powdered sugar which was the only sugar we had. Threw it...

I do this manually right now. I keep a notepad on a small clipboard above the fermentation chamber, and write down the temps every day. its nice to go back into the record to see if any off flavors were from a spike in temp, or maybe just to high overall fermentation temps. putting all of that...

we've already hashed this out on another thread. viewtopic.php?f=3&t=551

I would lose the hop additions at 45 and 30 minutes. Just go ahead and blast the beer from 5 minutes to flameout with loads of citra. You'll get a much better result :D :D but other than that i'm loving the recipe!

wow thank you! i've been looking for these types of bottles to buy in cases, but i've never found them. but with these i can re-use the bottles!

I've always loved the champagne style bottles like The Bruery uses, but the crown caps the use are actually bigger than normal bottles. I tried it once when i was bottling and didn't ever work.

you have to remember that brewing isn't strictly linear, its an art form. Playing with mash thickness could help get your brews to that perfect mouth feel, either dry and crispy or full and sweet. For me, mash thickness is like a broad paint stroke, its not going to make the masterpiece perfect...

Re: Ability to organize recipes and brews into folders was totally thinking of suggesting this! would love to have folders of recipes based on what i've brewed, and not brewed. planning or maybe styles.. hmm. would love it though!

Re: Add mash thickness field to recipe both sound exactly what i've been wanting!

YUP! I've been first wort hopping since I switched to all grain. You get about 10IBU's more and its a smoother bitterness, plus it helps keep the hot break down. plus the aroma of the hops steeping in the wort as you sparge... doesn't get any better than that! Update: Finished the brew day...

I agree that mash temperature and pH of the mash have an overall bigger impact of the fermentablity, but mash thickness also contributes. As for me I always use 1.8 qts/lbs, unless i'm doing a big beer in which i seek to max out my mash tun.

Exactly! the mash is where you determine what kind of beer you want in the end. If you want a beer that has a lot of residual sugars, big mouth feel, and a higher terminating gravity? then mash high (154+) and at a thickness of less than 1.25:1 same goes for the reverse, for my IPA's i like...

Just mashed in the Oatmeal IPA. went with 50|50 Maris otter and 6-row( to help convert the oatmeal) 20% oatmeal, 6.7% Munich and Crystal 60 Bravo for FWH, Citra/Columbus 2:1 ratio at whirlpool. Should be interesting!

exactly. it could fill that in to max out the mash tun so you don't have any head space, OR you can fill it in with your desired mash thickness and apply it to the quick water requirements

Carails does add mouth feel and head retention, but its just not the same mouth feel as Oats add to a beer. I'll be brewing it up soon and get back to all of you on how it turns out!

Depending on what i want out of the wort, IE fermentablity or maltier higher finishing FG, I choose either 145-150 /1.8qts/lbs or higher, 154-156/1.25 or lower. Grits ratio plays a big role in fermentabilty and controlling it is easy. So every batch for me is different, whether i'm trying to jam...

So I've always loved when IPA's are served on Nitro Taps. This got me thinking of how I could get an IPA to have some of that smooth, roll over your palate feel, and that's when I came up with this! http://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/r ... atmeal-ipa I'm using oatmeal at 20%, is this too...

If you're aiming for a sweeter finishing beer I would drop the lactose and mash high (155+) and at a low grits ratio ( less than 1.25 qts/lbs) Lactose does add mouth feel, but its just not the same as what the grain will give you. other than that, brew it up, and Cheers!

Hey, if its the best beer you've brewed so far, why change it? i say stick with the yeast, honestly yeast character is the thing that is most often lacking from my other home brewer friends who use WLP001 and/or wyeast 1056. Go for it!